PapGene, Inc. Awarded Grant for Test to Detect Ovarian and Endometrial Cancers

BALTIMORE, Feb. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- PapGene, Inc., a privately-held company commercializing advanced molecular tests, announced that it was recently awarded a highly competitive Fast-Track Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health to commercialize a test to detect ovarian and endometrial cancers.

The funds for this Fast-Track grant will be released in two phases, which together have the potential to provide a total of nearly $2.3 million in resources to PapGene's test commercialization efforts. Phase I will provide $297,000 to the company to demonstrate the accuracy of the test and its clinical validity. Upon successful completion of Phase I, Phase II will provide approximately $2 million to demonstrate the clinical utility of the test and to launch its regulatory approval process.

"Detecting cancer early is the key to its successful treatment," says Howie Kaufman, CEO of PapGene. "We are very excited that this award will help PapGene commercialize our innovative genetic testing technology and provide a significant new tool for detecting cancers while they are still in a curable stage."

Currently, there are only tests of limited utility for the detection of ovarian cancer, responsible for approximately 140,000 deaths per year worldwide. PapGene's test, which identifies ovarian and endometrial cancers from routinely collected patient specimens, is based on a new approach referred to as "genetic cytology."

"This award is another clear recognition of the power of our approach to identify ovarian and endometrial cancers by the genetic defects that drive their growth," adds Isaac Kinde, M.D., Ph.D., PapGene's Chief Scientific Officer.

The PapGene test couples massively parallel sequencing (MPS) with a proprietary error-reducing technology developed in the Ludwig Center at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

For additional information on PapGene, please visit its website at www.papgeneinc.com or email [email protected].

Work referenced in this publication is supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R44CA203350. The content of this press release is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

About PapGene, Inc.

PapGene is a Baltimore-based molecular diagnostic company dedicated to advancing the early detection of curable cancers. The company was founded by five world-renowned experts on the molecular and genetic analysis of human cancer: Bert Vogelstein, M.D., Kenneth W. Kinzler, Ph.D., Luis Diaz, M.D., Nickolas Papadopoulos, Ph.D., and Shibin Zhou, M.D., Ph.D. The error-reducing technology developed by the founders has been licensed by PapGene from Johns Hopkins University.

SOURCE PapGene, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.papgeneinc.com